Famous Last Words: Week 3

For the first time in three weeks, I am posting things ahead of time! Why in the world would I do such a thing? Well, I will be going to Dallas, TX tomorrow to continue celebrating my one year anniversary with my boyfriend, and I DO NOT want to be worrying about homework!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, celebrating dating “anniversaries” is kind of lame, but I am 100% a typical woman, so I will find any reason to be "lovey-dovey" and celebrate whatever the heck I can.

Our actual anniversary was Wednesday. We went to have dinner at a Brazilian Steakhouse. Let me just tell you, if you’ve never been to one, GO! NOW! (unless you are a vegetarian) That’s because it is unlimited steak, chicken, pork, lamb, and lots of other meats that I probably had no idea I was eating! They can be kind of fancy places, and definitely pricey, but if you find a reason to celebrate go try it! The dinner was a surprise for me, even though I figured it out before we got there. You see, I am very good at surprising him, and he tries to do the same for me, but I am pretty good at figuring this stuff out ahead of time. It is super sweet that he tries though!

(Personal photo taken 9/9/15 at The Grand Casino)

Nevertheless, now we are extending our celebration in Dallas this weekend. We will be going to watch the game with some friends tomorrow night at a local bar, then going to six flags Sunday morning and the New York Giants vs. Dallas Cowboys game Sunday night! The tickets to the game are my gift to him. He is from New York originally so whether it’s the NY Giants playing or the NY Yankees playing, I know to get the tickets as soon as I can! I have never been to an NFL game at all, so I’m excited about that, but to be COMPLETELY honest, I think I am most excited about six flags!


I am looking forward to blogging about the game next week in my Famous Last Words post! Buh-bye for now!

Styles Brainstorm: Nursery Rhyme Love Stories

Topic:
My storybook will be about nursery rhyme love stories. My goal is to find four different traditional nursery rhymes, and make the current characters connect in a romantic or “happily ever after” kind of way, rather than the traditional way we read and understand them now. One nursery rhyme I would want to include is Jack and Jill. It gave my inspiration for this entire topic during the first week of class, so I would really like to expand what I started there. Another story I would like to include would be The Old Woman Under a Hill. I don’t think I will have any trouble finding nursery rhymes due to the amount that are in Gutenberg’s book online. My criteria for choosing a story will be based on how people traditionally view the story. For instance, if the story is thought of as siblings or friends or relatives, I want to give a new background and new story how the two characters are actually in love and so on. 

Bibliography:
Jack and Jill
The Nursery Rhyme Book
Edited by Andrew Lang
Publication Date Unknown

The Old Woman Under a Hill
The Real Mother Goose
Illustrated by Blanche Fisher Wright
Release Date: January 5, 2004 [Last updated January 14, 2011]


Possible Styles:
Fairy Godmother as storyteller:
This might be the easiest one. Overall, each story would come the famous fairy godmother that tells every little girl about love.

Journey:
I could make all the stories end up being the same characters in their different stages of love. So each story could be from first person about how he or she met their significant other so on through their love filled life

Celebration:
Each character could be a guest of a wedding and they could be telling or retelling their personal love story

Children’s View:
These are nursery rhymes, so I could make this sound as if it is coming from a child with a grand imagination

(Photo from The Real Mother Goose homepage)

Storytelling Week 3: First Day of High School

First Day of High School

Sara and Kate were the best of friends. They did absolutely everything together. As they ventured in to their high school careers, Sara was extremely nervous, however Kate was very excited.

Kate had always been the one with the looks while Sara had always been the one with the brains. Separately, they both had insecurities, but together they were invincible.

On the first day of school, it was clear to Sara that Kate was getting all of the attention. Sara wanted that attention too, so that night Sara decided to make some major changes.

When Sara returned to school the next day, she clearly received attention, but not in the way that she wanted, and not in the same way that Kate did. Sara had cut her hair, and applied much more make up than usual. She looked like anything but herself. When Kate saw her, she was shocked. She had no idea what Sara was thinking, so she pulled her aside to question her.
“Sara, what in the world did you do? What were you thinking?” said Kate.

With a shake in her voice and tears filling in her eyes Sara replied “I just wanted to be like you. I wanted to be pretty like you. Everyone looks at you and notices you, and I wanted that too.”

Kate was silent, because she had never noticed these things that Sara was pointing out.

“Sara, listen, you don’t need all these changes in order to be noticed. You already are noticed! People look to you for help on all of their homework. People would never trust me with information like that. Everyone has their own noticeable aspects, and no two people are noticed for the same reasons,” said Kate.

This really sank in to Sara. She immediately walked into the bathroom and washed her face of all the make up. She pulled her hair up into her usual ponytail, and walked back out to Kate.

“There is my best friend again!” exclaimed Kate.

From that day forward, Sara learned to be comfortable and confident in herself as she is. She learned a valuable lesson in life that it does not matter what others have to offer, because everyone has something special and different to offer.



Author's Note:
One of my passions is working with teenage girls. High school and junior high can be very damaging for teenage girls if they do not have the confidence or self-acceptance that they need. It is very easy to become something we are not in today’s world. Especially for teenage girls, it is easy to become obsessed with what you look like and what you think others see when they look at you. I wanted to keep the lesson the same as in the stories that vanity will get you nowhere. Everyone has something to offer, and sometimes that something is not an outward appearance.



Bibliography:
The Eagle and the Jackdaw, The Aesop for Children, with illustrations by Milo Winter (1919). http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/aesop-winter-page-2.html

(Photo from The Eagle and the Jackdaw in the Un-Textbook)

Reading Diary B: Aesop (Winter) Unit

Week 3 Unit: Aesop (Winter) Unit 

Reading Diary B

The Fox and the Leopard
-A fine coat is not always an indication of an attractive mind.

This was the only story that stuck out to me that went along with my theme from the first half. From reading A and B, overall I took from the stories that you cant judge a book by its cover and don’t try to just focus on your own cover to impress others.

I know this post isn’t very long, but I plan to use my readings from part A for my story!

(Photo from Wiki Media)

Reading Diary A: Aesop (Winter) Unit

Unit Aesop (Winter) Unit

As I read through the stories in the first half of this lesson, I noticed a lot of similar lessons. I noted the individual lessons under each link to the specific story. But the similar lesson was about vanity. Vanity is something that can be a big problem, especially subconsciously. I do not believe most people intentionally become vain, But it happens to everyone at some point and sometimes people just need to be brought back to reality.

The Tortoise and the Ducks
-Foolish curiosity and vanity often lead to misfortune

The Eagle and the Jackdaw
-Dont let your vanity make you overestimate your powers.

The Gnat and the Bull
-The smaller the mind the greater the conceit

The Owl and the Grasshopper
-Do not let flattery throw you off your guard against an enemy




Photo taken from Un-Textbook